2. A selection of a Chair to serve during the 2000/2001 academic year will be made at the May Council meeting. Those interested in serving in this capacity should contact the current Chair prior to that meeting.

3. Joseph Branin presented a summary of the Libraries' Annual Report, which was recently submitted to the Office of Academic Affairs.

Highlights and Noteworthy Accomplishments of 1999--1) Appointment of a new Director of Libraries; 2) Restoration/renovation of the Main Library becomes a University priority; 3) Improvement in the ranking of University Libraries among research libraries in North America; 4) Online database access and print document delivery services best in the country; 5) Significant additions to the Libraries' collections; 5) Increased investments in information technology; 7) Gaining organizational (bibliographic) control over print and digital information sources; 8) Information literacy education; 9) Creating a diverse staff; 10) Improvements to library facilities.

Priorities and Plans for 2000/2002--Plan major restoration of the William Oxley Thompson Memorial (Main) Library; 2) Conduct a fund raising campaign in support of the restoration/renovation of the Main Library; 3) Improve public areas on the first three floors of the Main Library; 4) Continue to improve the overall quality and ranking of the University Libraries relative to peers in the Association of Research Libraries; 5) Establish a digital library program to digitize and deliver via the Internet to students and faculty unique cultural and information resources that support the University's curricular and research needs; 6) Build on the strengths of the OhioLINK and CIC partnerships; 7) Make full use of the Libraries' Book Depository Program; 8) Increase organizational (bibliographic) control over library collections and relevant Internet-based resources; 9) Increase the Libraries' communications, public relations, marketing, and outreach efforts; 10)Respond to library staff concerns and suggestions about compensation, diversity, general work conditions, and staff development activities.

Budget Restructuring--It is assumed that any budget restructuring will be essentially budget neutral for the Libraries. The Libraries' total expenditures from all sources for 1999 were $22.9M; 51% of this was spent on personnel, 13% on supplies and services, and 36% on library acquisitions. Library acquisitions is the strongest component of the Libraries' budget, thanks to the index-based inflationary increases given each year for the last decade. While Ohio State ranks 21st in the overall Association of Research Libraries (ARL) ranking index, it is 17th in library acquisitions spending. The personnel budget, on the other hand is the largest portion of the budget, but is relatively the weakest. Ohio State ranks 25th among the ca. 120 ARL institutions in salary expenditures, 60th in average salaries, 64th in median salaries, and 65th in beginning salaries for professional librarians. The size of the library staff is also on the low side (438 compared to 594 at Michigan, 543 at Illinois, and 501 at Wisconsin) even though we serve a larger faculty/student community.

College Level Strategic Indicators--The following strategic indicators have been identified for the Libraries: 1)Library personnel; 2) Circulation transactions/Interlibrary loan (borrowing and lending); 3) Reference transactions/Library presentations; 4) User instruction (net.TUTOR); 5) Library collections; 6) Library expenditures; 7) Library expenditures as % of University's E&G Expenditures; 8) Libraries ranked by ARL Criteria Index; and 9) E-resources usage. Our strengths come in expected areas: Provision of electronic resources, Reference transactions, Interlibrary borrowing, Circulation transactions, Interlibrary lending, and the Acquisitions Budget. Our weaknesses are also somewhat predictable: Total volumes, Library personnel, Salary expenditures, Operating expenditures, and Library expenditures as a percent of the University's E&G Expenses. In the eighth indicator--Libraries ranked by ARL Criteria Index--University Libraries ranks 9th among the 10 peer institutions identified by the Office of University Resource Planning and Institutional Analysis. The Criteria Index is derived from five measures--volumes held, volumes added in a given year, current serial subscriptions, total expenditures, and total salaried personnel.

Academic Enrichment Program Requests--The Libraries is currently requesting funding to establish an agressive program to digitize locally held, unique collections for delivery to students, faculty and staff in support of curricular and research programs.

In the discussion following the presentation, a question was raised as to the importance of the presence of a library school for having a higher ranked library. Kent State University School of Library and Information Science does have a branch of their program physically located on the OSU campus, but OSU Libraries does not have the advantage of hiring their students as GAAs. A question was further raised concerning the possibility of OSU and Kent having a joint program.

The importance of tying in with the university-wide plan for the future was emphasized. The current educational programs are good and very important, but we must continue to move forward. A question was raised about marketing net.TUTOR as a means of earning money for the Libraries.

4. Restoration/Renovation--Joe Branin reported that he is pleased with the responses he's been receiving about the restoration/renovation of the Main Library. He's received a number of invitaitons to attend meetings of departments and other groups, and finds the faculty to be listening and asking questions. It is necessarily difficult to react in the absence of a definite plan, but questions need to be asked and opinions sought before an actual plan can be developed. The more he sees and hears, the more convinced he is that the real challenge is determination of the services and collections that are to be housed in the Main Library--architecture and technology are of lesser importance. Overcrowding is currently a serious problem; if additional square footage is not available, we must look at other ways of improving the present situation--the possibility of moving staff and/or collections out of the building will be investigated.

There is strong sentiment in many departments that it is vital to keep their collections together in separate reading rooms; there will be further investigation of alternative solutions, including the increase of accessibility to materials housed in the Book Depository to see if that would lead to wider acceptance and use of materials stored in that facility.

During his meetings with faculty he has been talking about the relative strength of the acquisitions budget, and is being challenged about this concept by some faculties. He emphasized his desire to receive additional input concerning perceived weaknesses in the Libraries' collections.

5. Jane Case-Smith reported that she is participating in a presidential commission to look at the overall governance structure of the university, including a restructuring of Senate committees. Following discussion, the attendees agreed that Library Council is helpful to have, and should be retained as a standalone committee, as it is really not related to any other existing group. The Council is not involved in day-to-day management, but rather provides overall guidance and direction for library programs, reflecting the views of the Libraries' constituents.

Elizabeth J. Sawyers
for Joseph J.Branin, Secretary